Wondering aloud here... I have watched many, many games played on turf on TV and never see all the tire bits I do on our field. The black tire bits completely muck up the yellow and white on the sidelines and are too easily seen on the green turf. I know what the tire stuff is there for just don't understand why everyone else's field I see on TV looks clean and green... Green is green, white is white. Our turf has shown this since it was new---worse in rain. Any thoughts?

Look at ours on TV, looks the same as the others. Just the difference of in person and on camera. I think the ULM game against WF where the turf was new and 2-3 players came out of the game with the bits in their eyes.

not to be taken as a complaint. I had to do ESPN3 for Campbell. Do we need more lights? the field looked dark not at all bright. Could have been the non HD cameras?

When the field turf was installed, I drove up a couple of days to do some photography and watch the "action." One item included in the university's purchase was a tow behind harrow rake intended to keep the rubber particles smoothed out all over the field's surface--filling in low areas and leveling high spots. The project manager told me it was recommended that the surface be raked after each day's practices and, of course, after every game.



I'm certainly not on campus often enough to know what schedule the football staff is on to
"harrow" the playing surface, but I've never been able to "catch" anyone doing it when I have been there. I assume they're maintaining the surface according to some fixed schedule during each season.

App91 wrote:Look at ours on TV, looks the same as the others.

Not to argue, but No, ours doesn't look the same. Some TV angles make it look better... Me watching it on replay on ESPN3 and watching other games is why I commented. Our mid-field "A" looks dirtyish too. North Texas' field last night had none of that look. Like I said, I'm just wondering aloud. McElfresh had the bits all over him and saw several players jerseys covered in them as well.

I had the same thought! The field looks dirty. The White A and the Yellow and White on the sidelines appear dirty as well. Also the lighting did appear to not be the best on ESPN3 last week. Could be the camera's but all the other SBC games on ESPN 3 appeared clear and bright.

i wonder if you can repaint the a and other logos...actually, im sure you can. imop it just needs a touch up.

in fact....

The lighting appeared noticeably different for the Campbell game on ESPN3. That was the first thing my wife said was "have they changed the lighting?". Were they using partial capacity or have they redirected some of the lights? There were distinct shadows and I thought all the new lighting eliminated the shadows.

AtlAppMan wrote:The lighting appeared noticeably different for the Campbell game on ESPN3. That was the first thing my wife said was "have they changed the lighting?". Were they using partial capacity or have they redirected some of the lights? There were distinct shadows and I thought all the new lighting eliminated the shadows.

yeah the shadows were bad but I figured it was the tv production problem - don't know

AtlAppMan wrote:The lighting appeared noticeably different for the Campbell game on ESPN3. That was the first thing my wife said was "have they changed the lighting?". Were they using partial capacity or have they redirected some of the lights? There were distinct shadows and I thought all the new lighting eliminated the shadows.

It may be the time of day also if it's not completely dark the sun/clouds etc can make shadows as well.

Whatever was going on with turf & lights it didn't put our best foot forward

In fairness, I don't think ESPN was using their best camera and production equipment. Not surprising considering our opponent nor am I complaining if that was their choice. I was just happy to get to watch it on ESPN3, without any streaming problems thru my ROKU on my HD TV, since I could not make the trip this past week. This is a HUGE improvement in coverage for our school.

However, I would expect ESPN to bring better production equipment for higher profile opponents (i.e. Sun Belt conference games and future FBS schools) in the future.

Speaking of turf, gotta paint the endzones black like they used to. Block APPALACHIAN in one and MOUNTAINEERS in the other

PBR1893-BEER-HAT-GUY wrote:i wonder if you can repaint the a and other logos...actually, im sure you can. imop it just needs a touch up.

Most (maybe not all) of the markings and logos on our field are sewn into the turf; not painted. Even the end zone script "Appalachian State" that Coach Moore wanted so badly, is constructed from sewn-in sections. The white numbers, hash marks and lines and the gold sideline areas are made from colored turf and sewn into the "fabric of the field. Same with the Block A logo. What we may be seeing is wear--and the need to replace the entire surface. There goes that Michigan guarantee check.

I remember the photo-op that Chancellor Everts did in July while supposedly painting the Sunbelt logo on the field. Even the story indicated it was a staged event. The real logo was to be "installed later." Probably sewn in--not painted.

Chuck, I'm sure Troy Useless (the man who singlehandedly put ASU baseball on life support) makes sure the football field is raked. I also talked to the installers when the turf was going in and was told the same thing. Unless you saw it you would not believe how much white, special sand and the rubber pellets were put down.

yosef95 wrote:Speaking of turf, gotta paint the endzones black like they used to. Block APPALACHIAN in one and MOUNTAINEERS in the other

Yes, Yes and H3LL Yes!

May be that all turfs are not alike or of the same quality. Different makes, different materials.

asu66 wrote:

PBR1893-BEER-HAT-GUY wrote:i wonder if you can repaint the a and other logos...actually, im sure you can. imop it just needs a touch up.

Most (maybe not all) of the markings and logos on our field are sewn into the turf; not painted. Even the end zone script "Appalachian State" that Coach Moore wanted so badly, is constructed from sewn-in sections. The white numbers, hash marks and lines and the gold sideline areas are made from colored turf and sewn into the "fabric of the field. Same with the Block A logo. What we may be seeing is wear--and the need to replace the entire surface. There goes that Michigan guarantee check.

I remember the photo-op that Chancellor Everts did in July while supposedly painting the Sunbelt logo on the field. Even the story indicated it was a staged event. The real logo was to be "installed later." Probably sewn in--not painted.

My guess is the Sun Belt logo is painted as was the SoCon logo which obviously was allowed to fade away.

I remember reading that it would get better with time. Looks same to me.